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View SlideshowRequest to buy this photoChris Russell | DispatchMatt Ackerman, an employee at the Columbus Metropolitan Library’s Northern Lights branch, works with 8-year-old Noel Nombo, who is going into third grade.

A full school year and a focus on reading seem to have made the difference: Most central Ohio
kids won’t have to repeat the third grade, after all.

About 87 percent of third-graders who attend school in the region’s 49 traditional public school
districts did well enough on the state standardized reading test to move on to fourth grade. That
means about 2,800 kids did not.

But even those students might be OK. Many central Ohio school officials said yesterday that most
of those children either mastered an alternate reading exam or are exempt from the so-called “
third-grade reading guarantee” because they have special needs, are learning English as a second
language or already have repeated a grade.

In Hilliard, 91.3 percent of third-graders met the state minimum score, meaning 101 kids did
not. But only nine children actually face being retained, once all of the guarantee’s other caveats
are taken into account. In Dublin, almost 95 percent of third-graders reached the cutoff, leaving
62 children at risk. Among those, only five actually face the guarantee’s consequences. The rest
are exempt or have passed other reading exams, spokesman Doug Baker said.

And in Newark, of the 59 kids who didn’t score well enough, only 25 still might be held back,
said spokesman Seth Roy. A few will be held back for reasons besides their reading skill, he
said.

The school year that just ended was the first in which third-grade students could be held back
if they didn’t do well enough on Ohio’s standardized reading test. The minimum score for retention
purposes is just below what is considered passing, or proficient.

October’s third-grade reading results were ominous, warning that tens of thousands of kids
statewide could be forced to repeat the grade, or at least the subject. But the data released
yesterday by the Ohio Department of Education shows that statewide, only about 12 percent didn’t
clear the reading-test hurdle.

State officials called the first year of the guarantee a success, saying that schools met the
challenge of making sure kids weren’t passed along to the next grade when they lacked basic reading
skills. Officials have long said that the guarantee wasn’t a retention program; it was an
intervention program to help struggling readers.

“By and large, school districts embraced the third-grade reading guarantee,” said John Charlton,
spokesman for the education department. Districts spent more time on reading, hired more teachers
and offered more help for kids. “Without question, administrators, educators, parents and students
are more aware of the importance of students being able to read on grade level by the end of third
grade.”

The guarantee highlighted the severity of the reading problem in the state’s large, urban school
districts, including Columbus, Cleveland, Dayton and Toledo.

Those big districts scrambled to provide help to third-grade kids. Cleveland was among the
districts with the greatest percentage of kids who didn’t do well enough to be promoted. (In order,
the districts statewide with the highest rate of children who still fell short in May were
Warrensville Heights in Cuyahoga County, Cleveland and the Western district in Pike County.)

In October, only about 42 percent of Columbus third-graders passed the reading exam. But in May,
after a slew of interventions and an intense focus on reading, about 69 percent did well enough to
avoid retention. The district says that when exemptions are considered, about 74 percent of the
district’s third-graders can move on.

That means roughly 1,100 students still face being held back, if they aren’t able to improve
enough over the summer. Students have a couple of more chances to take the state test and also can
show their skills on the other approved exams.

The Columbus district provided school-level results yesterday, too, which show that some
elementary schools struggled more than others. Some showed huge gains. Only about 25 percent of
third-graders as Hamilton STEM Academy met the requirement in the fall, and by May, 70 percent had.
Parkmoor and Como each improved the percentage of kids meeting the minimum by 37 percentage points
or more. And in many buildings in which nearly the entire third grade had failed the October test,
most kids passed by May.

There still are 10 elementary schools where half or more of the third grade could be held back.
But in October, there were 56 schools where that was the case.

Now, most central Ohio districts are trying to further reduce the number of retained students
this summer. Most are offering literacy-intensive programs where students can take an alternate
standardized reading exam to determine if they can move onto the fourth grade.

Columbus principals and social workers spent the past two days calling families or knocking on
their doors, urging them to attend their summer program.

Marysville still is offering summer school and academic help to struggling students, regardless
of how they performed on the state exam. Superintendent Diane Mankins said the minimum score to
retain students was relatively low — it technically wasn’t even passing the test — and she wants
students to aim higher.

“Summer is a time where kids can lose their understanding and knowledge,” she said. “And
providing for kids who are already struggling was important to us.”

The Union County district had 48 students who didn’t meet the cut-off score on the reading test,
but all were either exempt from the guarantee or passed an alternative reading assessment before
the end of the school year.

None of central Ohio’s districts had a 100 percent success rate on the exam. But two charter
schools did. All 14 third-graders at Par Excellence Academy in Newark met the minimum score, as did
the 64 third-graders at Columbus Preparatory Academy.